Speed, agility, and vertical leap are all important for wide receivers in football—but without good hands, you’ll be stuck on the sidelines. There's few better ways to electrify a crowd, make believers out of doubters, and change the outcome of a game than to make a spectacular catch, then watch it on the jumbo screen as they replay it over and over and over.It takes some fantastic body control and sometimes a little bit of luck to make catches on the football field, whether it be one-handed, through the legs, on the helmet, or behind the back. And some of the players have it all.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 When it comes to the NFL,
00:13 there are certain moments that are remembered forever.
00:16 Whoever wins the Super Bowl, well, that one's obvious.
00:19 Last minute or even last second victories
00:21 are also very popular.
00:23 Sacks on quarterbacks, key interceptions,
00:26 and so on and so forth help make the NFL memorable.
00:29 But the single most remembered thing are the catches.
00:33 Because when it comes right down to it,
00:34 the catches by receivers
00:36 are what really move the game forward most times,
00:38 and they help seal the deal
00:40 in terms of victories in the NFL.
00:42 So given that, allow us to show you
00:44 the best football catches of all time.
00:47 Be sure to like the video and subscribe to the channel.
00:50 Wallace gets it done.
00:52 Even at age 31,
00:55 which is pretty old in wide receiver years,
00:57 Baltimore Ravens veteran Mike Wallace
00:59 showed he could still get the job done.
01:01 With Green Bay Packers cornerback Demarius Randle
01:03 draped all over him,
01:05 Wallace cradled a lofty pass
01:06 from quarterback Joe Flacco against his body.
01:09 Wallace needed only one hand
01:11 as he negotiated Randle
01:12 and two other members of the Packers secondary
01:14 and tumbled into the end zone,
01:16 all without the use of his right arm.
01:19 Number 17's snag was so impressive
01:21 that he punctuated it with a Lambeau leap,
01:24 despite wearing enemy colors.
01:26 So not only was it a great catch and a touchdown,
01:29 but he got a gloat about it,
01:30 and for very good reasons.
01:31 The catch that made OBJ famous.
01:36 When Odell Beckham Jr. was a rookie
01:38 for the New York Giants,
01:39 a team who has a few spots on this list, by the way,
01:41 he was well-known in football circles
01:43 for his catching ability
01:44 and how he could seemingly catch anything.
01:47 But what he did against the Dallas Cowboys
01:48 on Sunday night football
01:50 made him a worldwide star overnight.
01:53 After a play-action fake,
01:54 quarterback Eli Manning launched the ball
01:56 down the right sideline
01:57 from just beyond the 50-yard line
01:59 to a streaking Beckham,
02:01 and the rest was history.
02:02 Perhaps even the best catch in football history.
02:06 Even with the Cowboys cornerback Brandon Carr
02:08 tugging at his jersey
02:09 and getting flagged for a penalty,
02:11 Beckham showed off some insane body control.
02:14 He fully extended his right arm,
02:16 made the catch with one hand,
02:18 somehow kept his body in bounds,
02:20 and then fell into the end zone to score a touchdown.
02:23 Replays showed that Beckham
02:24 never even put his left hand on the ball,
02:27 making one of the most athletic,
02:29 unbelievable, and stunning catches in NFL history.
02:32 This was the play that made him
02:34 one of the best receivers in the league
02:36 and earned him top money down the line,
02:38 showing that one catch, one big play,
02:41 can truly change your status in the league.
02:43 Randy Moss versus Darrell Rivas.
02:47 If you recall your defensive history,
02:50 you will know the name Darrell Rivas
02:52 because at his prime,
02:53 he was one of the best shutdown corners in the NFL,
02:57 to the extent that anyone guarded by him
02:59 was put on Rivas Island,
03:01 meaning that they would never get help from the outside
03:03 because he was all around them.
03:05 Not that it mattered much to Randy Moss
03:07 because the Hall of Famer was one of the only players
03:10 at the position of wide receiver
03:12 who wouldn't mind spending Christmas on Rivas Island.
03:15 Moss, while playing for the New England Patriots
03:17 when Rivas was with the Jets,
03:18 sped past the best cornerback in the NFL
03:21 and toward the end zone.
03:22 The pass from Tom Brady was a touch overthrown,
03:25 but that did not prevent Moss from using his right hand
03:28 to bring in the ball for a touchdown
03:30 that was made to look as common
03:31 as a one yard run across the goal line.
03:34 Elevated.
03:36 Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Doug Baldwin
03:39 made a championship effort on this play
03:41 during the playoffs against the Minnesota Vikings
03:43 to earn the first down.
03:45 With temperatures dipping below zero in Minnesota,
03:48 Baldwin elevated to his highest point
03:50 with some ridiculous vertical leaping skills
03:52 to pull down the high pass from Russell Wilson,
03:55 all with one hand.
03:56 Baldwin had no idea if he was about to get knocked out
03:59 by a Vikings player, but he didn't care.
04:01 He made sure he made his catch.
04:04 And that's what makes plays like these so memorable,
04:06 the effort to make sure you get that ball.
04:09 Megatron.
04:11 When Megatron was at his best,
04:13 he was one of the best receivers in the game, period.
04:16 The Cowboys found that out the hard way
04:18 when playing against the Detroit Lions in 2011.
04:21 Johnson was covered by not one, not two, but three
04:25 Dallas players when quarterback Matthew Stafford
04:28 looked for his superstar wide receiver in the end zone.
04:31 Johnson, not to be outdone, went up and got the ball
04:34 over all three of his opponents.
04:36 And then he held onto the ball despite being hacked
04:38 by the Dallas players looking to force
04:40 for an incomplete pass.
04:42 But when Megatron has the ball,
04:43 you ain't taking it from his hands.
04:45 The immaculate reception.
04:49 Fans of the Pittsburgh Steelers would riot
04:51 if the immaculate reception was not on this list.
04:54 So, hey, here you go.
04:56 Though we'll be clear on one thing,
04:58 there was a lot of luck in the play.
05:00 And also because we still don't know for sure
05:02 if it was even legal.
05:03 Had the ball made contact with either John Fuqua
05:05 of the Steelers or with the ground,
05:07 it would, should have been ruled an incomplete pass
05:10 per the rules of the NFL at the time.
05:12 The play was allowed to continue
05:14 despite the controversy of that moment,
05:16 giving Franco Harris the opportunity
05:18 to make the most famous run of his storied career.
05:21 And that play is still talked about decades later.
05:25 That is a true moment.
05:26 The catch.
05:28 It is a play so famous that it has two names.
05:33 The catch and Montana to Clark.
05:36 The San Francisco 49ers were trailing
05:38 the Dallas Cowboys late in the 1981 NFC Championship game
05:42 when quarterback Joe Montana looked toward the end zone
05:45 to make a play.
05:46 Montana, while on his back foot,
05:48 threw a high pass toward the back of the end zone
05:50 and tight end Dwight Clark rose above everybody else
05:53 and caught the ball for a game winning score.
05:56 It is a moment that will live on in highlights
05:58 and in San Francisco history.
06:00 So long as the league and the club exist.
06:03 And it's not hard to see why they feel that way.
06:05 The tiptoe in the end zone.
06:08 We're ending this list with two major catches
06:12 in the most important game in the NFL, the Super Bowl.
06:16 Specifically, we're talking about Super Bowl 43.
06:19 It was the dominant Pittsburgh Steelers
06:21 led by Ben Roethlisberger
06:23 versus the shockingly good in the playoffs,
06:24 Arizona Cardinals led by Hall of Famer, Kurt Warner.
06:28 To the shock of everyone, the Cardinals were up
06:30 and literally scored a touchdown
06:31 on the previous drive in eight seconds,
06:34 which is impressive, but that is not the catch in question
06:37 because the Steelers came back and drove down the field
06:40 and had to score to potentially secure the win.
06:43 But the Cardinals were not laxed in their coverage here,
06:46 especially when it came to all-star receiver,
06:48 Santonio Holmes.
06:49 But that didn't matter as Big Ben was able to dial in a shot
06:52 into the end zone just enough
06:54 so that Holmes would not just catch it,
06:56 but literally be inbounds by the tips of his toes.
07:00 No one could believe he caught that pass,
07:02 especially the Cardinals, but he did.
07:05 It counted and they went on to win.
07:07 Bubble gum on the helmet.
07:10 What makes a memorable catch?
07:12 This is not a trick question
07:13 as we've already shown you plenty of memorable ones,
07:16 but in truth, what makes a catch memorable
07:18 isn't just how it's caught, but how it got to them
07:21 and how they made sure the ball was caught.
07:24 The place, Super Bowl XLII.
07:26 The New York Giants led by Eli Manning
07:28 were facing off against the undefeated New England Patriots
07:31 led by Tom Brady.
07:33 No one gave the Giants a chance to win the game
07:35 and yet in the fourth quarter, they were only down by four.
07:39 In a play that still boggles the minds of people
07:41 to this day, Eli Manning was rushed by the Patriots.
07:44 Escaping one of them clutching his jersey,
07:46 he heaved the ball into the air,
07:48 threw it 40 yards to David Tyree.
07:51 Tyree, who is a backup wide receiver,
07:53 had him made a true impact all game.
07:56 By his own admission, had a terrible week of practice
07:58 before the Super Bowl and was guarded heavily
08:01 by Patriots players.
08:02 And yet despite all of those factors
08:04 on both sides of the ball, he was able to jump up,
08:07 grab the ball, pin it to his helmet to keep it in play
08:10 so that it would be labeled a catch.
08:12 Or as one announcer called it,
08:14 there was bubble gum on the helmet
08:15 because of how it just seemed to stick there.
08:18 Now to be clear, this wasn't a touchdown catch
08:20 as that would come later via a pass
08:22 from Manning to Plaxico Burris.
08:24 But without that David Tyree catch,
08:26 they wouldn't have been set up to win.
08:28 And when they did, to this day,
08:30 this is hailed as possibly the greatest Super Bowl play ever
08:33 and easily one of the greatest catches in NFL history.
08:37 So what do you think?
08:39 What do you think of this look
08:40 at the top NFL catches of all time
08:43 and how they stack up to one another?
08:45 Do you remember seeing any of these catches live
08:47 when they happened?
08:48 Do you feel that one of these catches deserves
08:50 to be higher than any other?
08:51 Or did we forget an impressive catch altogether?
08:54 Let us know in the comments below,
08:56 be sure to subscribe,
08:57 and we will see you next time on the channel.